A Thousand Ways To Live
by icy roses
Summary: A collection of PJO drabbles, all pairings.
1. A Turning Point

**Title:** A Turning Point

**Pairing: **Sally/Poseidon

**Word Count:** 100

**Song:** _It Only Takes A Moment_ – Wall-E Soundtrack

* * *

It only takes a moment for that someone with a trident propped casually in one hand to say hello, and her life is changed.

It takes a moment for the spark of life. The cells inside her multiply, tens, then hundreds, and millions.

She can rewind her life over and over again, back to that moment when they remolded the sand on the beach under their backs, to the moment when he pulled her in for a kiss—to the moment when their eyes met and she smiled.

One moment to be loved, but a million more to forget it.

* * *

**A/N: **And I am now doing a 100-word drabble fic, each inspired by a song. This idea was kind of stolen from Kioko so I hope she doesn't mind. I thought it would be a good way to a) hone my ability to put meaning into every word and b) something fun. It'll kind of be updated whenever I feel up to it. Feel free to suggest songs, but no guarantees. I'm liking instrumentals right now. Gives me more freedom. November is two-thirds over, guys, and I can't wait to get back to my other stuff.

Disclaimer: Not mine. Don't sue.


	2. Take My Hand and Run With Me

**Title:** Take My Hand and Run With Me

**Pairing:** Percy/Annabeth

**Word Count:** 100

**Song:** _Hey, Soul Sister_ – Train

* * *

He doesn't quite believe in the idea of having that _someone_ who is supposed to be with him for the rest of his life. It's kind of stupid, if you think about it.

What if you never meet that person? What if that person lives in Saudi Arabia—who knows—or something?

It's a crazy impossible thing.

There are six billion people in this world, yet when he steps into the River Styx in order to save them, he thinks of only one. The mysterious connections in this life are unseen, but he can _feel_ them.

Maybe—not so crazy.

* * *

**A/N:** New song to be put in my Percy/Annabeth playlist. Come on, you know you classify songs for them too. I have a backlog of story and song ideas, so yeah. Bear with me.

I love drabbles. I can do them in 15 minutes and feel good about it.


	3. In the Time Called Before

**Title:** In the Time Called Before

**Pairing:** Luke & Annabeth

**Word Count:** 100

**Song:** _World of Chances_ – Demi Lovato

* * *

One of the things he learns about himself when the seven-year-old joins their family is that he is extremely ticklish. _Stop it_, he mutters in the morning, halfway between awake and asleep.

She giggles. _Tickle, tickle,_ she says. Her little fingers—fingers that are quick with a knife, fearless at killing—wriggle in his armpits. He seizes her and messes up her curly hair. She laughs in delight.

In the future, when she is grown, he will remember that she was the girl who taught him to laugh. When she turns on him, bright dagger, bright eyes—he will remember.

* * *

**A/N:** Non-romantic, unless you want it to be that way. It's the reader who does the interpreting. I love the way stories, even 100-word ones, can bloom on paper in a way that you don't expect. I did not expect this.


	4. Stupid Is As Stupid Does

**Title:** Stupid Is As Stupid Does

**Pairing:** Percy/Rachel

**Word Count:** 100

**Song:** _Falling In Love At a Coffee Shop_ – Landon Pigg

* * *

In her short fifteen-year life, Rachel Elizabeth Dare has learned one truth: boys are stupid. Pulling her pigtails until she cried – or later, until she punched them in the nose – she has never been convinced otherwise.

Yet, she walks into the coffee shop on West 43rd and sees this boy, smiling green eyes and gentle hands who doesn't skateboard in the summer, saves the world instead –

She falls. Pretty hard. So hard that she agrees to go on some life-risking quest with him because, well – he makes her heart flutter.

Truth still holds up: boys are _stupid._

She is too.

* * *

**A/N:** In which Percy is a chick magnet, even though he is too thick to realize it. I imagine Rachel to be the kind of level-headed girl who doesn't go for stupid boy shenanigans.

Forgot, last time to thank **percabeth777 **for adding me to the Quality PJO Fanfictions community. Very cool. I am, as always, flattered, especially as this fic is only 400 words long so far.


	5. Tough

**Title:** Tough

**Pairing:** Clarisse & Ares

**Word Count:** 100

**Song:** _Daughters_ – John Mayer

* * *

The one thing the campers all have in common: they are just a bunch of attention-hungry mongrels.

Her included. She has spent her whole life showing someone up – first battling three mortal brothers who showed her the ropes until she could pin them with half a thought, then scuffling with a cabin-full of wannabe leaders.

She prides herself on not just being the best of the girls, but the best of the _best._ After all, that's what it takes to get noticed by their shared fickle father, Ares. There's only so much love to go around.

And she doesn't lose.

* * *

**A/N:** Yeah, okay, I had a different idea as to what this would be, but apparently, Clarisse isn't so big on going emo. So there you go. I hope you've picked up that "&" means unromantic pairing.

The title means both, "Clarisse is tough" and also, "tough luck, losers."


	6. The BestWorst Kind of Mistake

**Title:** The Best/Worst Kind of Mistake

**Pairing:** Nico/Rachel

**Word Count:** 100

**Song:** _Accidentally In Love_ – Counting Crows

* * *

The first time, it's at the New Years' party. One thing leads to another. Percy finds them entwined in the guest room the morning after – says they better thank their lucky stars Annabeth is sleeping off a hangover or they might _accidentally_ be missing a lot more than their dignity on the way out.

The walk of shame home lasts forever.

That was supposed to be it. Except now, they're accidentally meeting in the abandoned wing of an art museum, fitting rooms in Nordstrom's – eventually, her penthouse.

Nico's pretty sure what they're doing can no longer be called "accidental."

Whoops.

* * *

**A/N:** Otherwise known as, _Until Apollo Kicks My Ass_. But I have faith they can be, um, clever with their trysts.

I had fun writing this one. Can you tell? Sometimes I forget they're not canon, but you know what? They should be. Maybe if I write it enough, THEY WILL BE?! If I dream it, I can make it so!


	7. How To Fall In Love

**Title:** How To Fall In Love

**Pairing:** Percy/Annabeth

**Word Count:** 100

**Song:** _The Saltwater Room_ – Owl City

* * *

When they cross the finish line in the chariot race, the crowd explodes. Her hair is wild from the wind, and she turns to him. He gives her a sloppy grin.

For some reason, she's remembering what they went through to get to this glorious, golden moment

- _the Sirens' island, holding her close on the hippocampus under the Golden Fleece while he snored softly into her shoulder -_

and his eyes take her breath clean away.

He's her best friend.

So she just smiles and kisses him on the cheek as they both turn red.

Hopes a little, maybe.

* * *

**A/N:** The song is too beautiful, and the drabble does not do it justice. Really. That's why I wrote it six times, at least. Not an exaggeration. I spent way too much time on this one. It skipped from Book 4 to Book 3 to Book 1 to Book 2, and that's where it is now. I am feeling undoubtedly that this is one of the weaker ones, but I leave you to judge, as always.

On a cheerier note, November is over! That means **The End of You and Me** will be back into commission soon. Also, look for a Luke/Thalia one-shot sometime this week too. Probably.


	8. Blessed

**Title:** Blessed

**Pairing:** Luke/Thalia, preseries

**Word Count:** 100

**Song:** _Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas_ – Frank Sinatra

* * *

It is December 24th. Thalia remembers some quaint fact about how there is only a thirty percent chance any given place will have a white Christmas.

But in New York City, heavy snowflakes descend soundlessly, resting on the bright red Santa hats of Salvation Army ringers and cornered in the "a" of Macy's. It spangles in Annabeth's and Luke's light hair. Annabeth sleeps on his shoulder as they wander the streets window-shopping, admiring the strings of Christmas lights.

On this Christmas Eve they have nothing. But the snow – it blesses everyone equally.

So Thalia smiles because they are blessed too.

* * *

**A/N:** In the spirit of the holidays. May you all be blessed as well.


	9. The Road Not Taken

**Title:** The Road Not Taken

**Pairing:** Percy/Thalia

**Word Count:** 100

**Song:** _The Shade of Poison Trees_ – Dashboard Confessional

* * *

It is, all of it, a perverse gift of the gods.

Somewhere in the underworld, Atropos is spinning, spinning, and Lachesis is measuring ironic predestination between her weathered fingers.

The choices run through Thalia's own fingers like pale sand when she picks _Hunter._ Sharp eyes, knowing heart, her last glance before immortality consumes her is the other one, a mirror image of her.

Because she thinks idly, that given the _choice_, she might've picked him just to see where it would go –

– and like a shadow melting before the sun, the chance is gone, as if it never ever existed.

* * *

**Author's Note:** I just have a weird Percy/Thalia love right now, so sorry that it is manifesting itself in lame drabbles in the wee hours of the morning. This is basically gratuitous purple prose, and I apologize for that too.

But I mean, me being flexible with my pairings, I still think Percy and Thalia would have one hot fling.


End file.
